________________
DAMODARPUR COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTIONS.
No. 7.]
119
modified a little ; for Kumāra-gupta II could not reign later than 156 G.E., as the Gupta era 157 refers to the reign of the next sovereign, Brdha-gupta. Again, if the year 156 G.E. belongs to Kumāra-gupta II's reign, it may be rightly supposed that the Khoh copperplate grantl of the Maharaja Hastin, wherein there is reference to the endurance of the Gupta dynasty and sway ("Gupta-nripa-rajya-bhuktau, 11. 1-2), belonged to Kumāra-gupta Il's time. Any other alternative will make this particular inscription belong to the time of the next sovereign, Budha-gupta, whose feudatory this Mahāraja Hastin (whose known dates range between 156-191 G.E.) undoubtedly was. One known event can, with some certainty, be attributed to the time of Kumāra-gupta II. The temple of the Sun-god at Dasapura (in Málwā), which was built in Mālava era 493, i.e. 117 G.E., by the guild of silk-weavers immigrant from the Lāța vishaya, while Bandhuvarman was governing that city as Kumāra. gupta I's feudatory, was restored (sarskṣitam) by the same guild in Malava era 529, i.e. 153 G.E., as we know from the Mandasor stone inscription. The late Dr. Fleet wrote thus-- " This second date (529 Mālava era) is, of course, the year in which the inscription was actually composed and engraved; since we are told at the end that it was all composed by Vatsabhatti, and the engraving throughout is obviously the work of one and the same hand." Hence it may be taken as true that the restoration of this temple of the Sun.god at Dasapura, which fell into disrepair under other kings (as described in the inscription), took place very probably during the reign of Kumāra-gupta II, when, we have reasons to believe, the western provinces (e.g. Mālwā) were still under Gupta sway, and that the great poet Vatsabhatti, whose intellectual attainments are so evident from his excellent composition of this inscription, flourished during the reign of the same monarch, Kumära-gupta II.
We shall now show below that the genealogy of the imperial Guptas continued through Skanda-gapta for a period of still about three quarters of a century, and that the Gupta empire did not perish after the death of Skanda-gupta, as has so long been held by historiang. I think the presumption of a renewed attack on the Gupta dominions by the Hiņas (c. A.D. 465-70), as held by Mr. V. Smith and followed by others, is now in the absence of definite evidence to be given up. Skanda-gupta's victory in his first battle with the Häņas was a very decisive one, and it secured the general tranquillity of all parts (western as well as eastern) of the Gupta empire till the time of his grandson (?) Budha-gupta (whose known dates range from 157 to 175 G.E.). The Sårnáth image inscriptions and the Dämodarpur plates may serve as evidence to show that the imperial Gupta line after Skanda-gupta ran through Kumāra-gupta II. Budha-gupta and Bhanu-gupta in fall glory till at least 214 G.E., the date of our plate No. 5, i.e. till 533-34 A.D., if not still later. But the Bhitari seal inscription above referred to, which gives a genealogy of the early Gupta dynasty for nine generations, does not contain the name of Skanda-gupta, bat carries the genealogy through Para-gupta, described as a son of Kumāra-gupta I by his chief queen Ananda-dēvi, down to his grandson named Kumāra-gapta (now Kumara-gapta III), son and successor of Narasimha-gupta (Pura-gupta's son). So it is evident that a line of Gupta rulers through Para-gupta ran parallel to that of which the genealogy has been established by the Sārnáth inscriptions and the Dämodarpur plates. It may be not quite unlikely that during the tronblous times after Kumāra-gupta I's death, when Skanda-guptat was preparing himself "to restore the fallen fortunes of his family" (vichalita. kula-lakshmi-stambhandy-ödyatëna, 1. 10) and had afterwards "to establish again his lineage, which had been made to totter" (-prachalitan vamsam pratishthäpya, 1. 14) by fighting the Hüpas and other foreign tribes in the western portion of his vast empire, Pura-gupta-no matter whether he was his (Skanda-gupta's) full or half brother-seized the opportunity to 1 Fleet, C. 1. I., Vol. III, No. 21.
? Fleet, C. 1. 1., Vol. II, No. 18. • Vincent Smith, Early History of India, 3rd Edition, p. 310. • Fleet, C.I, I., Vol. III, No. 13.
